"With under 80 days to go, this is a huge help to our counties and county chairs to get the ball rolling and start organizing. They have 1,784 precinct caucus meetings to run, thousands of volunteers to recruit and our presidential candidates deserve a set date," said Executive Director Chuck Laudner. "This is a definitive year for Iowa, and it is crucial that RPI, the State Central Committee and our county organizations run a smooth, successful caucus."

The Iowa Democratic Party's spokesperson released this statement in response:

The Iowa Democratic Party is planning for a January caucus on a date that is ultimately decided by what is best for the people of Iowa and the Democratic Party.

State Chair Brennan, the State Central Committee, Governor Culver and Senator Harkin will continue to work with the pre-window states and the Democratic National Committee to determine a date that maintains Iowa’s important role as the First-in-the-Nation Caucus

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Marc Ambinder is a contributing editor at TheAtlantic. He is also a senior contributor at Defense One, a contributing editor at GQ, and a regular contributor at The Week.